Page 88 of Escape Velocity

But something did change. A look of panic crossed LaTour’s face. “Wait.”

“I will die before I let him have his pleasure with me,” she repeated.

Into the roiling mix of her emotions, a voice from the back of the room rose. “I have seen it.”

LaTour whirled around. “Seen what?”

“You know I work on the grounds of the estate—for a pitiful amount of credits. I have seen the women. I have seen them walk in. And I have seen them carried out—dead.”

Amber shuddered at the image, as a babble of conversation erupted around the room.

The man named LaTour turned his attention back to her. “Why did you not speak up?” he demanded. “Instead of coming to our camp posing as merchants.”

“Would you have believed me?”

“We still have no proof of what you say.”

She raised her voice above the din. “Take the knives away from my friends’ throats so we can talk.”

For long seconds, nobody moved, and she was afraid her words had had no effect. Then LaTour said in a grudging voice, “Do it. We still have control of them.”

The men with the knives lowered them. And the ones holding Max and Rafe let go of their arms.

Amber saw them both let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you,” she said.

The spokesman’s gaze drilled into her. “If your story is true, why did you come to our camp with your pretense of selling clothing?”

She wanted to look down at her hands, but she kept her gaze fixed on him. “Because we intended to ask for your help, but we had no idea what you thought about Tudor. We couldn’t just walk into your village and assume you’d be willing to go against a powerful man who works for the government. We had to find out how you felt about him. For all we knew, you could be working with him. Or you could be so afraid of him, that you would prevent us from attacking him.”

A muscle ticked in Latour’s jaw. He said, “You made no mention of him.”

Max spoke up. “I did,” and he repeated the question he’d asked at dinner the night before.”

“That was hardly anything.”

Max’s gaze bore into the spokesman. “What I wanted to ask was, ‘Does he treat you fairly? Or does he lord it over you because he is high up in the government?’ But your security chief acted like he didn’t want to discuss the subject, so I decided to speak to your head man in private.”

Talk erupted around them once more, and this time Amber sensed a change in its tenor.

She saw Max drag in a breath and let it out before continuing. “There are only three of us. We need your help to get rid of him and make sure nobody finds out what happened.”

LaTour scoffed. “You want us to attack his compound? He is well guarded. He would send his troops to wipe us out.”

“No, we will operate by stealth. We were hoping you could help us come up with a plan.”

“You must have some strategy in mind,” the interrogator said.

“We can’t finalize any strategy until we know the situation better.”

When LaTour made a dismissive sound, Amber answered. “You live in the swamp because you pride yourself on being free. I had no such choice. Like all the women who are brought to his house out here, I am a slave—sold away from my home world.”

She heard exclamations from some of the men, but she kept speaking. “He bought and paid for me. But I will not let him torture me to death. No woman or man should be sold as a slave—a slave who will face only horrors before the mercy of release.”

There was absolute silence in the room.

It was broken by a voice from the doorway. “I agree.”

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